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Emperor Dark
Emperor Dark is the supreme commander of Shadow Force. His past is mysterious, but his goals are clear: conquer the solar system, to place himself the ruler of all mankind. Records from the Series Bible Background: According to what records exist, Dark was an extremely brilliant and promising young physicist - one of the few scientists assigned to study the Obelisks found on Mars. He soon became increasingly disillusioned with what he perceived as the slowness of StarCom's way of carrying out experiments. Unfortunately, what he saw as unnecessary bureaucracy was in fact realistic attention to safety precautions. This was tragically proven when Dark, convinced that his way was the only right way, attempted to accelerate the results of an experiment involving a small piece of the Obelisk which had become detached and had been taken to the underground research laboratories on Mercury. Most of the underground caverns comprising the research colony on Mercury were destroyed in the resulting explosion, along with hundreds of researchers. Dark, trapped in a remote part of the complex, was presumed dead, and the research station was abandoned and declared classified. Reconstructing the events from exhaustive study of the site before it was classified, we assume that Dark made his way to the mostly intact main laboratory, after what must have been weeks of painstaking tunneling, probably adapting the lab's equipment as he needed it. Using the dozen or so surviving Robot Drones, Dark built the Shadow Star - a magnificent mobile base to help him carry out his ultimate plan. What sanity had been taken from him during his ordeal in the tunnels was replaced by a burning mission - and more. Being in contact with the Obelisk fragment when the explosion occurred, Dark was helpless to prevent the intense flow of alien information forced into his mind. He cannot possibly process and decipher the massive quantity of data, and so acts on the only references he can understand - the Obelisks. There is a rumor, totally unsubstantiated, that Dark has definite proof that there are two more Obelisk clusters; one on Pluto, and one in Saturn's rings. No member of StarCom has ever been able to locate any evidence that this is so, but the rumors persist. Emperor Dark's mission seems to be to gain access to all three Obelisk clusters. Since Mars and Saturn are (and one day even Pluto will be) under the protection of Starcom, the only way he can achieve his goal is to dominate the solar system - and disband or destroy Starcom. He calls this plan, and the three planets with their alien treasures "The Grand Trine". (This is also the name he uses for his corporation - even Dark must feed and clothe his employees, and equip his factories, all of which takes money.) He has committed his life - and the lives of everyone in the solar system - to achieving his goal. Dark strongly believes that he can use the knowledge contained in the forests of carved Obelisks to re-order the human race, with himself as leader and god - but only when he has access to all three Obelisk clusters will he be able to decipher the information he carries locked away in his mind. Psychological Evaluation: We have put together a tentative profile. Dark's confidence is absolute. He rarely raises his voice, or his hand. (We were reminded of the archival film star Christopher Lee in his prime - that cool, that dignified, and that terrifying.) No one has seen the full range of Dark's evil talents, but the glimpses reported hint at power of awesome scope. Using the vast computer banks ranged along the entire wall of his inner sanctum aboard the Shadow star, Dark can apparently command an astonishing array of the physical forces. We do not understand the full implications of this, but we are certain that the power comes from the ship itself, and not from within Dark. We suspect the existence of a highly sophisticated implanted interface which would allow Dark to be physically connected to his vast power source, but this is as yet unsubstantiated. It is reasonable to deduce, however, that it is because of this connection that he very rarely leaves the ship, preferring to remain very much in the background as his cohorts work to carry out his mysterious plans. Further research has told us that Dark has used his power to put together an entire military organization. This Shadow Force consists of enough state of the art manpower and vehicle power to rival that of StarCom. We have also learned a fair amount about his command crew, the three generals who most often execute his sinister machinations... Category:Characters Category:Shadow Force